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Jonathan Allard earns podium finish in Chico
By Gary Thomas
Chico, CA - April 15, 2007... Defending King of California Jonathan Allard of Chico rebounded from a flip last week in Chico to score a solid podium finish at Silver Dollar Speedway Points Race #3 during GP Development night this past Friday. Jonathan and Williams Motorsports brought out a Maxim Chassis and the first night back with it went well as JA was strong all evening and was in position to win the race, until slipping back from the leaders with a handful of laps left.
Jonathan turned an 11.643 in qualifying and appeared to have set fast time as Mitch Olson, who had turned a faster lap, was deemed to be too loud and was forced to re-qualify. After qualifying was said and done however, officials decided not to penalize the drivers who were too loud. After some confusion Jonathan was placed second quick.
The Williams Motorsports, GT Trends, K & N Filters No. 0 was set to start sixth in the second heat race, but a false start by the front row moved the 0 machine up to fourth for the start. When the green flag came out again Jonathan jumped into second in the first set of corners and would run there for the remainder of eight lap contest. He followed his brother Stephen across the line to finish runner up and transfer into the night’s 25 lap feature.
The number six pill was pulled for the inversion which placed the Weld Racing, Red Line Oil, Chris Jones Racing, Graph X Designs Maxim inside the third row. Jonathan got a great start and moved into third by the time a lap was completed. Early on the top three cars were strung out but a red flag on lap seven brought them back together. After going back green JA began to put some pressure on second running Willie Croft, but with the track being so rough and dry in various areas, he had to be delicate.
Around lap 10 leader Sean Becker hit a slick spot up high in turn four and it looked like Jonathan might have had an opening to make the move under both Becker and Croft, but it didn’t develop and he remained in third. A red flag occurred one lap later and it gave the drivers up front a chance to clear their heads and get ready for the final nine lap shootout, as it was announced the race would be cut back to 20 laps due to time issues. As the race wore on Jonathan tried everything to get under Croft and a couple times looked to have the pass made, but couldn’t get enough traction in the Spy Optic, Sharp Insurance, Platinum Powder Coating machine to get it done. Jonathan and Croft had a good, clean and exciting battle for the runner up spot over a handful of laps.
The remaining part of the feature saw Jonathan fade back and he had to get up on the wheel to retain third as Brad Sweet applied some heavy pressure to the back of the 0. Sweet inched ahead on the final lap but Jonathan used the high line to get the momentum and nip Sweet at the line to score third.
Saturday’s Golden State Challenge Series race at Ocean Speedway was cancelled due to rain so Jonathan will now have to wait another week to try and close in on the top spot in the GSC standings.
Next week will see Jonathan and Williams Motorsports compete once again in Chico on Friday and on Saturday it will on to the Petaluma Speedway for Golden State Challenge Series Round #9.
Last season Jonathan had a great go of it in Petaluma as he swept both GSC events at the track, which helped catapult him to the title. He passed both Brent Kaeding and Peter Murphy on a mid race restart to win last year’s April GSC race in Petaluma. The June stop in Petaluma saw Jonathan start sixth and make the winning move around Robert Ballou on lap 18.
For more on Jonathan Allard and Williams Motorsports visit http://www.allardmotorsports.com
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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